Zero wouldn't possibly care about a curse from an inorganic being.
Come on. For thousands of years, he'd basically been stuck in the beginner village.
He was practically about to delete his account, was he really not allowed to go out and see the territory he'd conquered with his own eyes?
Besides, he still had to pick a suitable place for his own release someday.
If he wasn't going to follow Akivili to look for the tree, then who else could he follow?
Zero patiently tried to reassure Guanliang,
"I already told you, that was just an inorganic being's curse. How do you know it didn't tamper with things? Maybe that whole deck of Tarot cards was full of ominous cards to begin with."
Guanliang didn't listen to a single word his superior said.
Still uneasy, he kept tapping on his jade terminal, as if determined to get a clear answer from the Tarot reader on the other end.
Seeing that he couldn't persuade him, Zero gave up.
He turned to Hua and asked, "When does the competition start?"
Under the guards' protection, no one knew the truth behind the explosion yet. Everyone thought it was an accident caused by a gas leak.
To ensure the safety of everyone present, the academy's teachers were checking for safety hazards one by one.
Hua replied, "Probably another hour."
Zero asked with interest, "If you win, do I need to go up on stage and give a speech later?"
Hua answered instinctively, "…This is a sports meet, not a parent-teacher meeting."
'It's just an ordinary sports meet! Why would parents need to show up?!'
Her expression froze instantly.
Wait, she shouldn't have said parent-teacher meeting.
Her guardian was way too unreliable. If he actually went to a parent-teacher meeting, wouldn't he bring a dozen tall, burly bodyguards in black suits with him?
And then, would he treat everyone there to a meal? And introduce himself as her "father," saying, "Please take care of my daughter…"
After that meal, every teacher and student would sing her guardian's praises and tell Hua, "Your dad really loves you."
Just thinking about it… made her want to escape Yaoqing.
She forced herself to stop overthinking and stiffly cut in first, "Didn't you say you're usually very busy? Then you won't need to attend any parent-teacher meetings."
Zero sighed theatrically in regret.
"What a shame. I was actually looking forward to sharing my experiences with others."
Hua, "..."
'What experience do you even have?! You only have experience sending kids to the Alchemy Commission, don't you? Oh, and lying to me and teasing me.'
Zero admired Hua's expression, clearly furious but unable to say anything.
The urge to mess with her mindset stirred again. For that, he deliberately switched to a show-off tone and said to Hua, "After all, I have a child worth bragging about."
"She has qualities that no one her age has. She's smart and brave. It's just a pity that I'm not good at praising, oh, more accurately, not praising..."
Zero deliberately used those extremely deceptive eyes to look at the heir, whose expression was rapidly falling apart.
He bent down and lightly patted Hua's shoulder. Like he was reciting poetry, he said to her, "Your excellence is simply a fact. Stating facts, how can that count as praise?"
"I think that in the entire Star Sea, even the most beautiful words can't accurately describe my child's qualities."
Hua, "..."
The guards' faces were filled with admiration. They applauded in unison and echoed enthusiastically, "As expected of Marshal Zero! As expected of Her Highness the Crown Princess!"
Hua thought that the future of the Xianzhou Alliance was painfully obvious at a glance.
Her expression blank, she opened her mouth, hesitated for a long time, and finally squeezed out, "I'm going to prepare for the competition."
Zero watched the heir leave.
He thought to himself that Akivili had been right, frustration-based education was a bad idea.
Teaching a child meant praising them more.
When he praised the heir… she even walked with both hands and feet moving together.
Zero held back laughter while nudging Guanliang with his elbow, his tone extremely cheerful.
"See? Isn't it interesting?"
Guanliang, "…I really have nothing to say to you."
'Didn't you already win two to zero earlier?! How are you still not done playing?!'
'What did Hua even do wrong? Why does she have to be tortured by you?!' Guanliang screamed internally.
He had originally wanted to communicate properly with the Tarot reader, but there was too much work waiting for him. He couldn't even spare the time to check the other party's messages.
Guanliang stared at the jade terminal, his hands never stopping as he kept tapping out replies.
The ones on top move their mouths; the ones below run their legs off.
Even though the marshal was already the most considerate superior in the entire Star Sea, at this critical moment after an assassination attempt, no one could afford to relax.
This assassination was completely different from the past times when the superior deliberately set traps and held back. This time, they'd known nothing about it beforehand.
After dealing with the assassin's home planet, the next problem to solve was, how did this machine even sneak in?
You had to know that whether it was goods or people, entering or leaving the Xianzhou Alliance required passing a whole series of security checks.
They didn't discriminate against other races. Whether intelligent machines or other species, as long as they submitted an entry application in advance and passed approval, they could enter the affiliated planets of the Xianzhou Alliance.
Of course, not discriminating against outsiders didn't mean they could go anywhere they wanted.
After all, the Xianzhou Alliance wasn't some vacation resort. There were places outsiders weren't allowed to go.
For example, Yaoqing, where the marshal was stationed. The Skyfaring Commission of Yaoqing imposed even stricter scrutiny on outsiders.
After a series of investigations and interrogations of those involved, they discovered that this was a conspiracy spanning decades, all aimed at assassinating the marshal.
Guanliang skimmed through the document at high speed. He flipped back to the first page, handed the jade terminal to his superior, and summarized the incident in just a few sentences.
Zero took the jade terminal and gave it a quick look.
He couldn't help but sigh, "They really went all out just to assassinate me…"
Yaoqing didn't approve entry applications from the mechanical race, so they couldn't enter Yaoqing.
So they sent parts into Yaoqing little by little, then had other people assemble them.
Zero's gaze landed on the final list of those involved. Among them were names of Xianzhou people.
If it were someone else, they might feel heartbroken over the betrayal of fellow Xianzhou citizens. Zero didn't.
Times were different now.
Whether it was the "Imperial War" or the "Cosmic Swarm Disaster," to them, these were nothing more than historical events in academy textbooks, far too distant.
He respected every Xianzhou person's choice.
Besides, Zero had seen plenty of troublesome citizens. With the population size of the Xianzhou… it was perfectly normal for a few hundred or even a few thousand people to shout about equality between intelligent machines and humans.
Whether they were knowingly involved or simply used and deceived by intelligent machines, the Ten Lords Commission would make the final judgment.
Zero lost interest and returned the jade terminal to Guanliang.
Guanliang lowered his head again to deal with matters on the terminal. After handling the assassin, the next thing waiting for him… was accountability from the other generals.
His head felt like it was about to split in two as he opened the group chat he'd muted.
In the group chat without their superior, the generals had already exploded. One after another, they were tearing into the Yaoqing general until he was mentally broken.
Guanliang didn't even need to think to know that while they were attacking him, they were also praising his superior at the same time.
He braced himself and stepped in to mediate.
The moment Guanliang spoke, everyone immediately switched to a different way of scolding.
Looking at the knife-flashing, sword-clashing chat messages, Guanliang's head hurt even more.
At that moment, Zero put down his jade terminal and sighed.
"Why do they all want to come to Yaoqing so badly?"
Guanliang felt like swearing.
Here he was, suffering through storms alongside the Yaoqing general, what was his superior doing? Probably feeling troubled by the other generals' enthusiasm, right?
Zero lowered his head and tugged at his half-dried collar.
The guards had already checked all the yachts early on. The academy, however, didn't know about this and, out of responsibility for those present, was still inspecting for safety hazards.
Considering their top superior's extremely special status, and coupled with what had just happened, the guards had no choice but to act cautiously.
Some of them went through intermediaries to contact others, asking them to approach the academy on their behalf and disclose part of the truth.
Others started preparing bathrooms and clean clothes for their superior.
Zero waited patiently for a while. Then a guard stepped forward and nodded at him.
He let out a sigh of relief, casually stuffed the jade terminal into Guanliang's hands, and followed the guard into the yacht's interior.
By the time Zero finished showering, the speedboat race was about to begin.
He walked through the corridor and arrived on the deck.
The chief strategist and the guards were already wearing sunglasses, waiting for him.
Zero put on the sunglasses Guanliang handed him, took back the jade terminal that had been temporarily entrusted to him, and asked, "Where's Hua?"
The guards moved in perfect unison, raising their arms to point in Hua's direction.
Zero said casually, "If only we had a megaphone…"
One of the guards pulled out a megaphone like a magic trick.
Guanliang turned his head away, unable to bear watching.
'Hua, you've really got it rough!'
Zero waved his hand. "You use it first. I'll use it after."
The guards nodded together. Soon, the race began.
When the starting gun fired, they took turns shouting encouragement through the megaphone for Her Highness the Crown Princess.
"Miss, you've worked so hard..."
"Miss will definitely win!"
"Miss, you can do it!"
Hua, riding a speedboat several hundred meters away and still able to hear them clearly, "..."
She comforted herself internally.
No one would know the Miss's real identity.
After the guards finished offering their blessings one by one, it was finally Zero's turn.
Zero took the megaphone and switched it on.
Deliberately dragging out his tone, he said word by word, "Miss, if you don't get first place, you'll have to go home and inherit the family business!"
Hua, "..."
She wondered why the finish line was ahead of her.
Why was she riding a speedboat that could only travel on the sea?
Why wasn't she piloting a star skiff that could take off on the spot and ram straight into the yacht?
In a daze, Hua was the first to cross the finish line. Relying on muscle memory, she pulled out the speedboat key and stood up mechanically.
She didn't even know how she ended up on the podium.
Hua could clearly feel the people present constantly sizing her up, and the other girls who had competed alongside her.
They looked at her with complex or shocked gazes, speculating about the identity of this "Miss."
Hua's emotions were extremely complicated.
Holding the trophy, she stepped down from the podium and came to the yacht where her guardian was.
He had changed into a round-collared robe. Very naturally, he took the trophy from her hands and, with his height far exceeding hers, held it high in the air.
After examining it, Zero said seriously, "This trophy should be placed in the Xianzhou Museum together with those gloves..."
The moment Hua heard that, all the complicated feelings in her heart instantly turned into rage.
She shouted, "Don't put everything into the Xianzhou Museum!"
Zero feigned surprise. "Wasn't I just trying to help you regulate your emotions, since you looked unhappy?"
He tilted his head and fired off questions one after another.
"Huh? What's wrong? Are you angry? Did I make you cry?"
Hua didn't speak.
She thought, 'Who on earth helps regulate someone's emotions by making them angry?!'
Guanliang, looking utterly world-weary, patted Hua on the shoulder.
Meeting the superior… Hua was really blessed.
All the sins of eight lifetimes had been wiped clean in one go.
The group returned to the residence. The next day, news about intelligent machines spread across the entire Star Sea.
An intelligent machine had attempted to attack the children of Yaoqing Academy through self-destruction.
Fortunately, the Xianzhou people present had reacted quickly, and there was no loss of life.
Zero received messages from all sides. The content was largely the same, probing his attitude toward intelligent machines.
He copied the message he'd previously sent to the company shareholders and selectively replied to a few.
Those who received the replies were indignant, condemning intelligent machines without using profanity, saying they were two-faced.
As for what they truly thought in their hearts…
Zero didn't need to guess. None of them believed his explanation. They all assumed this was just him directing and acting out the whole thing himself.
He put away the jade terminal and said to Guanliang beside him, "Leave intelligent machines to her. When the time comes, let her decide."
Zero had known from the very beginning that they were different.
They walked different paths, so Hua would never become him.
She wouldn't be a tyrant of the Star Sea.
There was no need for her to exhaust herself for the Xianzhou, nor to worry over money.
Whether she went to war with intelligent machines or revised his galactic laws, it didn't matter.
War could build reputation. Sparing intelligent machines could draw a clear line between her and Zero, and earn their gratitude.
Guanliang nodded and noted his superior's words.
Soon, it was time to get off work.
He moved quickly, packed up his things, and glanced down at the jade terminal. The head of the Alchemy Commission had sent him an address, inviting him to dinner.
Guanliang felt puzzled.
The Xianzhou had always clearly separated work time and off time. Even annual banquets and team-building events were scheduled on workdays.
If colleagues got along, they'd contact each other privately. If they didn't, they'd only interact during work hours.
Guanliang considered his relationship with the Alchemy Commission head average at best, far from close enough to meet privately.
After some thought, he accepted the invitation and soon arrived at the agreed location.
It was a secluded private kitchen restaurant, little known and rarely visited. Inside, there were only the two of them, no other guests, not even a server in sight.
The commission head looked haggard, eyes bloodshot, like someone who'd worked through the night.
Just as Guanliang was about to exchange a few pleasantries, the other party handed him a handwritten report.
He glanced at the title, it was a medical report related to mara-struck condition.
The Alchemy Commission had written countless similar reports in its attempts to solve mara-struck condition.
Guanliang continued reading, and his expression froze instantly.
A guess formed in his mind, but he still asked for confirmation, "Whose is it?"
The commission head sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and said in an almost inaudible voice, "It's his."
The color drained from Guanliang's face. His senses felt stripped away, and for a moment, he couldn't react at all.
Involuntarily, he thought of the machine's curse against his superior.
Guanliang thought, 'That wasn't a curse.'
The two remained silent for a long time. Finally, Guanliang broke the dead silence.
He heard his own voice.
"Do you mind if I smoke?"